Slow and steady may not be the best strategy to win a race. However, it’s the most reliable strategy to stay in most games and give yourself the best chance at success in life. Chug-a-lug isn’t something we should be doing with a keg, it’s the sound we should make by going slow. Consistency over intensity is the best place to be. Endurance athletes across sports like running, rowing, cycling, cross country skiing, and swimmers spend most of their training time working at modest levels of intensity. Their training volumes and daily commitments can’t be sustained when pushing to the limit constantly. They choose consistency to avoid being incinerated by intensity. Running at their redlines results in burnout and injury. To give themselves the best chance to perform at their peak when needed, they train most often at modest intensities.
In so doing, they stay in the game. They recognize that time is their friend. They’re seeking to build a base. A base of support physically in that their structures, bones, joints, tendons, muscles, and more all can strengthen and support their efforts over time. Additionally, they are building the base of their engine. They are developing diesel-like capabilities that will rev and produce power hour after hour. All training is done in service to prepare you to produce and allows your skill and capabilities to accrue.
In a recent blog post, Morgan Housel notes a research study evaluating training programs of high-performance cross-country skiers. Researchers were interested in how much time was spent training and what kind of training elite athletes in this sport performed. They found that the average athletes trained almost 900 hours annually. This results to over three hours of physical exertion daily, five days a week, sustained across fifty weeks of the year. This level of commitment was expected from elite endurance athletes. To become worldclass one must be prepared to put in the hours. The level of commitment is daunting. It literally is the better part of a full-time job. Where does the energy come from to sustain this kind of effort over the long term? They must possess an almost unparalleled level of work ethic to pursue this participation day in and day out.
Are they genetic freaks? Do they have some kind of mental masochism that compels them to worship at the altar of Sisyphus? What kind of energy must they have to exert themselves over these hours day after day? What the researchers found next surprised them. Of the deep devotion to training, almost 90% of these hours were spent at low levels of intensity. They were putting in the time and chugging a long to let time help them get strong. Less than 5% of the training time was spent at high, competitive levels of intensity. Housel writes, “Some of the best athletes in the world spend almost all their time working way below potential, purposefully not pushing themselves to the limits.”
Running guru and author Matt Fitzgerald finds that elite running performance is built on an “80/20 rule.” 80% of training efforts are done at moderate intensities. These are pleasant and less stress inducing to mind and muscle. Only 20% of efforts are full bore. Injuries are minimized while interest in and commitment to the efforts are maximized. Athletes give themselves a chance and stay in the game. Their abilities improve slowly and steadily.
This is the exact opposite approach to that of the casual exerciser or weekend warrior. We seek intensity over consistency and hurt ourselves. To reach peak performance we need to be able to sustain our efforts over time. This is absolutely the case with respect to our physical endeavors. However, it applies to our work worlds as well. Dr. Jordan Peterson served as a therapist to many high achievers. A question he worked to resolve with his clients was how much should you work. His clients were ambitious, go-getters that were driven to do. They wanted to work, work, work, and then work some more. However, burnout was a problem. Working oneself into the grave limited one’s capabilities. Dr. Peterson worked to help these over-achievers temper their willingness to work suggesting a rule of thumb to adopt of “You don’t want to do so much work that the amount of work you do interferes with the amount of work you could still do.” Our ability to add value is directly tied to our ability to continue to show up. Being able to stay in the game means easing off full throttle and finding a speed that’s sustainable over time.
It’s also true in the world of savings and investing. What our savings accumulate into over time is less a product of the rate of return and more a result of the time spent in the market. Lower, less risky returns sustained over decades deliver stockpiles of savings far more than making a shrewd one-time successful stock pick. Avoiding the noise of the next great gold rush and focusing on steady, proven pathways of modest to low risk returns while committing to participating in investment over many decades is the truest, most reliable pathway to profit.
Morgan Housel reminds us in The Psychology of Money that, “The big takeaway from ice ages is that you don’t need tremendous force to create tremendous results. If something compounds—if a little growth serves as the fuel for future growth—a small starting base can lead to results so extraordinary they seem to defy logic.” Slow and steady may not win every race, but it might help win many of life’s most important races. Reduce risk and raise regularity. It’s a commitment to compounding that is the heart of sound financial planning. As it is in health, wealth, wisdom, and much of life, good things come to those who wait. Chip away a little every day and eventually you’ll unveil a masterpiece. It’s not the first most powerful swing of the axe that knocks down a tree, it’s the repeated, sustained swing of steady arms that does it in time. There are no shortcuts. Rushing the race ends up with mud on your face. Go small to stand tall.
In First Things First, Stephen R. Covey invites us to consider several questions writing, “What about character? Can you ‘cram’ and suddenly become a person of integrity, courage, or compassion? Or physical health?” Some things, like great food, take time to prepare. They can’t be rushed. We can’t microwave what matters. We can’t get instant health, wealth, competence, character, integrity, or instant anything of value. We must put in the time to develop these traits. Day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Patience in the practice of developing these traits is needed. Yes, it takes time, but time is our friend. The only thing separating us from these character traits is our diligence over time.
Adopting a posture of patience to developing any new behavior is helpful to habit forming. The author Tynan writes in Superhuman by Habit, “You’ll get the greatest compliance by maximizing frequency and minimizing intensity. Daily habits are hard to overlook or miss, and low intensity habits are easy to complete. This combination greatly increases your chances of sticking with a habit.” In other words, the formula for a winning habit is to increase the frequency with which you perform a behavior while reducing its intensity. Make it easy by making it simple and small. Then do it often. Small things done daily leads to big changes. Trade intensity for frequency all day every day. It’s not what you do today that matters, but what you do every day. Do a little. A lot. This is the idea at the heart of books like Atomic Habits and Tiny Habits. Little things that make big differences. Move a mountain one rock at a time. Eat an elephant one bite at a time. Do a little over and over to make a difference.
Let’s give a nod to those that plod. Yes, boring is beautiful. Delight in drudgery. Seek to become the maven of mundanity or a Baron of boring.
Similar articles:
